Doctor Who S32E11, "The God Complex" [spoilers]

[Alkaloid]

I did think it looked like a plastic fruit display, so I was a bit surprised when he bit into the apple and it was real.

[Kyminara]

Rory: "With all the time we've spent in the TARDIS, what was left to be afraid of?"

I may not have the quote exactly right, but that's the basic gist of it. He did speak in the past tense, as if they'd already stopped traveling with the Doctor.

This came right after the episode where Rory watched the Doctor intentionally let his (other) wife die. Amy of course doesn't remember it, but I have the suspicion that it was a really big deal to Rory.
Going forward with this, if we assume that Rory's only remaining fear is in fact the Doctor himself, then that would make for another way Rory can show up in the next season as not his compainion, but in fact an enemy.

Meh, not bad. Better than most so far but that's a pretty low bar to jump over.

I'll agree that something is off about Rory. Maybe the lack of a room for him shows he's not human (and is different enough for the virtual hotel to not recognise him).

As for what's in the Doctor's room, we have the cloister bell tolling but I don't think it's the TARDIS dying or something. It's probably a slightly future version of himself, that woudl fit with the emo doctor thing.

They explain in the show that Rory didn't have faith in any one thing, so the hotel kept trying to "show him the way out". Of course, that could just be an excuse to hide the real reason.

The Doctor's room almost certainly contained the Doctor himself. He immediately resonds to seeing it with "Who else would it be?" Yeah, it fits in with the whole emo feeling of the show, but that scene also comes right after the Doctor explains in detail to someone else why he's something dangerous. The more mysterious question is what does the Doctor actually have faith in?

Really my main issue with the whole "Doctor makes Amy lose her faith" part was that surely it was obvious that he was de-constructing her faith to save her... thus reaffirming her faith. I suppose due to high stakes situation and her beginning to be affected by the minotaur... but it seemed a little too easily wrapped up. Wibbly wobbly brainy wainy?

It was interesting and it kept my attention. There were some entertaining one-liners and while it may not have directly furthered the season arc, it didn't have to. If the last episode of the season doesn't forward it, then I'll complain.

The Doctor really did make her lose her faith, though. That's why they had to make that big long goodbye scene at the end where they show Amy acknowledging that she understands (and agrees with) the Doctor's fear of getting them killed. Yeah, it was an obvious tactic to save her, but strangely it really worked.

I don't see how this episode isn't an integral part of the season arc with how much it is setting up the changes in the supporting cast.

[NecronLord]

For those interested in the theme, the Doctor making a companion lose their faith was done much better in Curse of Fenric but then, that's a harsh standard to judge any episode against.

[Molyneux]

Let's see.
I thought the setup was quite good, a creepy episode on the whole, I quite liked the call-back to a previous Who villain (can't recall their names, but look up the species that they say the Minotaur is related to).

It seems quite obvious to me that someone on the writing staff has been reading "House of Leaves".

I caught the Labyrinth+Minotaur theme from the preview at the end of the last episode, but what I hoped for was another Theseus reference - Procrustes, the innkeeper with a perfect bed. The "here comes a chopper to chop off your head" really made me think of that - and it fits in well with the "Hotel plus mind control" theme. Ah, well, one can't have everything.

Really, the thing that pisses me off the most is - and this is something I've been noticing a worrying tendency towards in DW as of late - I spent a good portion of the episode yelling at the screen for Rory to STAB THE DAMN THING.

We've seen invincible monsters on Doctor Who before, we've seen critters and creations that could shrug off bullets like they were love taps. This minotaur was nothing of the like - we never saw any indication of its invulnerability, it had no obvious armor or weapons - it didn't seem to do a damned thing but eat peoples' faith and whine about how it wanted to die.

Rory is the Last bloody Centurion. He should at the very least have suggested killing the thing, rather than letting it pick them off one by one. I wouldn't have minded this so much if they'd tried and failed - but no-one even raises the possibility!

[Parallax]

Let's see.
I thought the setup was quite good, a creepy episode on the whole, I quite liked the call-back to a previous Who villain (can't recall their names, but look up the species that they say the Minotaur is related to).

The Nimon, from the 4th Doctor story 'The Horns of Nimon'.
Which was, bluntly, pretty awful all in all.

[Molyneux]

Let's see.
I thought the setup was quite good, a creepy episode on the whole, I quite liked the call-back to a previous Who villain (can't recall their names, but look up the species that they say the Minotaur is related to).

The Nimon, from the 4th Doctor story 'The Horns of Nimon'.
Which was, bluntly, pretty awful all in all.

Can't say I've ever seen that one; my experience with originalWho is fairly limited, though I did quite enjoy the story where Ace beats up a Dalek with a (magic) baseball bat.